Misguided "jobsworths" are preventing children from enjoying traditional playground games through the over-zealous application of health and safety laws, says the watchdog for the legislation.

Judith Hackitt, head of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), accused schools and councils of using health and safety rules to avoid providing activities that might cost money or expose them to being sued.

She said children's play and education had been damaged, with some playgrounds becoming joyless no-go areas, while science lessons had been hampered by bans on practical experiments.

Warning that "the gloves are off", she said the rules were wrongly blamed for decisions to make children wear goggles when playing conkers and ban running at a pancake race.

"The creeping culture of risk aversion and fear of litigation ... puts at risk our children's education and preparation for adult life," she told the Telegraph.

"Children today are denied – often on spurious health and safety grounds – many of the formative experiences that shaped my generation. Playgrounds have become joyless, for fear of a few cuts and bruises. Science in the classroom is becoming sterile and uninspiring."

She said the problem was not just confined to schools, citing the recent decision to turn off the big screens at Murray Mount in case spectators slipped on the wet grass.

The people behind unreasonable rulings were often "well-meaning but misguided jobsworths" who go too far, said Hackitt, adding that many organisations imposed restrictions not out of concern for people's safety but due to fears of no-win no-fee lawsuits for personal injury. Other bodies used the guidance as a cynical excuse to cut services, she added.

Her comments came as the education secretary, Michael Gove, announced an overhaul of the red tape required for children to go on school trips, which he said would mean a "more common-sense approach to health and safety".

The Department for Education, along with the HSE, is publishing new guidelines for parents and teachers in England, which it hopes will mean more children go on school trips.

The department has cut its 150 pages of health and safety guidelines to eight, and directed schools and local authorities to ditch "unnecessary paperwork".

Paul Tombs, head of education at insurers Zurich Municipal, said only 3% of local authority personal injury claims related to educational activities.

He said: "We therefore consider that any public perception and fear over a lack of available insurance cover, or a perceived rise in premiums for these activities, is unfounded."

However, the teaching union NASUWT said the decision to scrap most of the guidance was "potentially reckless" and could both reduce the number of educational trips and increase litigation against teachers and schools.

Chris Keates, the union's general secretary said: "There is no evidence demonstrating the need for the previous guidance to be abandoned, and no educational reason for doing so.

"The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits.

"The previous health and safety guidance was developed in response to particular needs and in response to incidents in which children had died or been seriously injured.

"The previous guidance was widely accepted by teachers and there is no evidence that the generality of schools found the guidance to be off-putting."